Question

How can I handle my fears about being at my son's circumcision?

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I'm 33 weeks pregnant with my son, and I'm terrified of having the circumcision done and taking care of it afterward. I want him to be circumcised, but I know I'll freak out if they're hurting him. Should I let my mother or my mother-in-law take him so I won't have to be there? Or would that make me a bad mother?

A recent study by M. Sorrels and colleagues from the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Center and Michigan State University mapped the fine-touch pressure thresholds of the adult male penis in circumcised and uncircumcised men and compared the two populations. The study is published in the April 2007 issue of BJU Int .
Adult male volunteers were evaluated with a 19 point Semmes-Weinstein monofilament touch-test to map fine-touch pressure thresholds of the penis. Circumcised and uncircumcised men were compared using mixed models for repeated data, controlling for age, type of underwear worn, time since test ejaculation, ethnicity, country of birth, and level of education.
Analysis of results showed the glans of the uncircumcised men had significantly lower thresholds than that of circumcised men (P = 0.040). There were also significant differences in pressure thresholds by location on the penis (p < 0.0001). The most sensitive location on the circumcised penis was the circumcision scar on the ventral surface. It was remarkable that five locations on the uncircumcised penis that are routinely removed at circumcision had lower pressure thresholds that the ventral scar of the circumcised penis.
This study suggests that the transitional region from the external to the internal prepuce is the most sensitive region of the uncircumcised penis and more sensitive than the most sensitive region of the circumcised penis. It appears that circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis.
Sorrells ML, Snyder JL, Reiss MD, Eden C, Milos MF, Wilcox N, Van Howe RS
BJU Int. 99(4):864-69. April 2007
The Sorrels study proves that "circumcision" does terrible damage to the male sexual anatomy. Such elective surgery for cosmetics, tradition, or to ward off potential rare diseases or infections is not warranted.

I would recommend you reading the book:
What your Doctor may not tell you about Circumcision" Untold facts on America's most widely performed and most unnecessary Surgery...By Paul M. Fleiss, MD and Frederick M.Hodges, D.Phil. don't make a decision on unsuported rumours and circumcisers scare tactics. The only medical reason for circumcison is in the 1 in 600,000 births when the penis is malformed and then the foreskin is used for the corrective surgery.
Remember no harm will come to your child from having a foreskin. He will thank you in years to come for not subjecting him to a totally unecessary operation and remove from him 20,000 erogenous nerves.

The problem with this is, you've removed more than half of the boy's penis skin.
He deserves to have all he was born with. If he had any say, he would keep it. Wouldn't you? Would you settle for a percentage of your genitals? Why do girls get to keep theirs, but boys don't have that option? Especially when the inner foreskin feels more than the head.

We had our son circumsised before he left the hospital. My very trusted OBGYN did the procedure, which was very reassuring knowing he would take care of my baby. He said my son did very well, chewed on the nurse's finger, and didn't even cry! I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Listen to your instincts. There is no medical reason to circumcise you would be putting your baby through so much pain for cosmetic reasons! Babies are born perfect. No alterations needed! Keep your baby intact.

Why? Was there something wrong with the child?
Do you really think babies are born needing cosmetic surgery? Do you really feel that surgery carries no risks? The AMA and AAP are telling you that circumcision is not medically necessary, and that the risks of surgery outweigh the potential medical benefits. So, why do it at all? Do you think the human body was not designed correctly?

I know how you feel. I am 29 weeks pregnant with a boy and worry about the pain for him. However my sister in law just had a boy and it is not a big deal for them to pee and poop. You just have to make sure to keep vaseline on a gauze over his penis every time you change the diaper. That way the diaper doesn't stick to the healing skin. I am still going to circumcise him. Think I will just have my husband be with him instead of me. Hope this helps.

...do you really want to take a pair of bladed pliers AKA Gomco clamp to your child's genitals?
If this practice wasn't pre-existing would you invent it? I think most really NEED the lab coat and/OR bits of PAPER to placate them... Is unnecessarily taking a blade to somebody ever really justifiable? Explain to ME why I would have been better off if they'd taken part of me as a baby - as if to tell me I'm nothing but a possession that they can just mark any way they want like I'm a mindless piece of meat? I don't agree with it, I think it's offensive and insulting to all men really. Does it make ANY sense? AT ALL?? NO, it doesn't, and if you reading this are the one with the blade, and you know all this? You KNOW that there's no REAL reason this practice even has to exist; that it's going to do nothing but hurt, damage, and disrespect a little defenseless infant? Guess what? You're nothing but another THUG out for their money. Cutting up little kids isn't something most warm blooded people are good at.

God introduced the foreskin.
Man introduced circumcision.
Why would God put a foreskin on every mammal, if it didn't belong there?
How many problems have a woman's clitoral foreskin caused? That's about how many problems are caused by a male having a foreskin.
You just removed better than half of the skin from your child's penis, for no reason whatsoever.
Every medical association says circumcision is not medically necessary.

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